The stories below have been provided by Michelle Cahill, an Animal Care Center volunteer for the past 25 years. Photo credits: Kelly Pacino Rodgers.
THE POST OFFICE CATS
The Irvine Animal Care Center was built in 1982, and for a decade or two there were very few buildings within our view. I used to enjoy visiting with our cats in the Get Acquainted rooms with their picture windows — I could see only fields and sky. It felt like for a moment at least I had escaped the more densely populated areas where I lived and worked.
The nearest building was a post office. One spring, a mama cat gave birth to four kittens in a field adjacent to it. The postal workers who fed them and socialized them to some degree discovered the look-alike tabby boys.
Eventually the workers realized these boys needed a better living situation and called the center. Having been outside on their own, these now teenage kittens were not friendly enough to be adoptable. Volunteers rallied and after several weeks socialized these boys into adoptability.
With a nod to the kittens’ postal birthplace, they were named Orlando, Aspen, Memphis, and Dallas. Orlando and Aspen were adopted together into one home. As we want for all our adopted cats, they were to live indoors only.
The following year I learned that Orlando had escaped his new home. Everyone thought that, having been outside so much of his early life, he would never return home. I heard no more about this and did not ask anyone. I wanted to remain in denial, not having confirmation that Orlando was lost forever.
Fast forward eight years, I was at a baby shower for a volunteer friend and sat with a few other cat people. We talked about our cats, of course.
One story began: “One of my cats once escaped outdoors. I thought Orlando was lost forever.” Orlando? Is this the same Orlando I used to know? There can’t be too many cats named Orlando. Indeed, though Orlando had gotten out, he had stayed nearby. With the center’s assistance, he was returned home to his human family and his brother Aspen.
Have you lost a pet or found a stray? Like Orlando, most pets stay very close to home. Re-homing them directly without a visit to the center saves time, fees, and is less stressful for the animal. Visit our Lost and Found Pets page to look for a missing pet or report a pet found.
THE TINY BROWN LUMP
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One of my favorite memories is a puppy adoption that happened very simply. Center pets often attended our fundraising meetings. One such time, it was a litter of orphaned puppies — tiny four-week-old brown lumps, each small enough to hold in one hand. They were being fostered in our clinic, and our manager brought them to our meeting for us to enjoy. It was also a good way to advance the puppies’ socialization skills and make them more comfortable with a variety of people — a key factor for adoption readiness.
I would often tell center stories at work and talked about these babies in a meeting the next morning. My longtime friend Donny said, “I want one.” At first, I thought he was kidding, but he wasn’t. He’d been wanting a puppy as a friend for his other small dog that he’d found stray a few months earlier.
Donny and his husband, Michael, came to the center and I introduced them to our center manager who showed them the puppies. From this Muppets-themed litter, they picked Miss Piggy. Donny had cared for puppies before, was taught the specifics of fostering one so small, and given food and supplies.
They took Miss Piggy home to finish her fostering process. Once she gained sufficient weight to be spayed, Donny and Michael officially adopted her and gave her the much more fashionable name of Lola.
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Lola is the only pet I was able to enjoy from infancy throughout her life. When I would see her at her adult weight, about 20 pounds, it was fun to remember she was once that tiny brown lump I’d held in my hand.
Foster volunteers play an important role in saving the lives of underage kittens and puppies. Learn more about the center’s Foster Care Program here.
IT’S ALL IN THE TIMING
We receive beautiful stray animals in our shelter and are always amazed at how many go unclaimed by their owners. I don’t know why this is, because if my cat became lost I would be inconsolable and search for her everywhere.
One couple did come into our shelter often looking for their lost orange tabby cat. He was a strictly indoor boy but had gotten out accidentally. Apparently, his curiosity took him too far to remember his way home. The owners were heartbroken but after several months recognized that they probably would not see him again.
After a while, they decided to adopt another cat and came back to the center. As they looked at the available cats, imagine their surprise to see their own cat! Found stray with no identification, he had been brought to the center only a few days prior, and we’d named him Pluto.
This was in the 1990s, when we had no sure way to connect lost animals to the people missing them. A matchup of a pet to a notice on our bulletin board, like with Patches the calico cat, another who came in stray, was rare. Pet microchip identification was emerging but not common. Shelter documentation was not computerized as it is today.
Pluto was young, friendly, and tolerated kenneling well. We thought he’d be adopted quickly, but never dreamed it would be back to his original owners. After his months-long secret adventure, he happily returned home with his original name. I think it was Tiger.
Visit our License a Pet page to learn more about how to give your pet a better chance at getting home quickly and safely, should they ever get away from home.
WHAT SUNNY TAUGHT ME
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Animals have a lot to teach us if we just pay attention. They do so unknowingly, just by being themselves. I’m grateful to Sunny the cat for a valuable lesson.
His owners relinquished this orange-and-white boy to us when he was thirteen-years-old. Many of our senior pets come from a nice home environment and are relinquished because their owners can no longer care for them. However, what a shock it must be after such a long time in the same home.
The first time I saw Sunny I thought he’d been in a fight — his nose was scabby — but later I learned he’d been treated for skin cancer before coming to the center. This disease can attack pink-eared, pink-nosed cats and dogs when they spend too much time in the sun.
I initially kept my distance. Sunny’s nose “owie” was somewhat tough to look at. I wasn’t sure I wanted to get involved. Often in my life, I’d avoided situations that triggered feelings that didn’t feel good. However, something prompted me to take a chance, and I jumped in, as other volunteers had done already.
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I quickly learned Sunny had a loving nature. He was very docile and loved lying in my lap. I still remember how cozy it felt when I squished him close. Sometimes I’d carry him around the building while he rode with his head next to mine and his front paws on my shoulder. Though my own cat, Katie, was affectionate, she was more often a side-snuggler than a lap-stealer, and she didn’t like to be carried. Therefore, Sunny filled in that missing piece.
Our many attempts to get Sunny adopted were in vain. We put him on three pet television shows and made signs for his kennel raving about his loving personality. The center had not yet formalized its Seniors Helping Seniors program, which waives adoption fees for individuals age 62 and older when they adopt a senior animal.
As it turned out for Sunny, his stay at the center was better for him than I’d expected. He loved hanging around with staff and volunteers, often camping out in our volunteer office, where he received almost constant attention. He saw that our primary role was to serve him, so serve him we did. The center’s Enhanced Care program provided the specialized treatment and advanced care Sunny needed.
Now, more than two decades later, we still speak about how special Sunny was and how grateful we were for him. I’m glad I took a chance and got involved. Sunny taught me to climb out of my hiding place and have courage to know others like him, be they animal or human. Imperfection can veil love, light, and a gentle spirit. Of all the shelter cats I’ve known, Sunny is the one I loved the most.